Electronic devices, such as electronic data storage devices, including hard disk drives, are commonly used for storing and retrieving digital information. Electronic devices are often mounted in a vertically or horizontally stacked array within a structure or cage. For example, a hard disk drive sled may house a plurality of individually-connected hard disk drives. Such a hard disk drive sled allows removal and replacement of an individual hard disk drive within the sled without disrupting the other hard disk drives within the sled.
In a hard disk drive sled, each hard disk drive may be connected to an electrical connector (such as a Serial Attached SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) (SAS) connector) within the sled. The electrical connector can then be operatively coupled to a printed circuit board within the sled. A hard disk drive sled promotes the protection of the electrical connector and printed circuit board, as well as the hard disk drives, during the use, removal, and replacement of the hard disk drives. In this manner, the performance and reliability of the hard disk drives can be maintained.
Heat management, including heat dissipation, for electronic data storage devices, such as hard disk drives, in a sled can be difficult. Hard disk drives generate heat during operation. To maintain the operability (e.g., avoid overheating) of the hard disk drives, at least some portion of the heat generated by the hard disk drives should be dissipated from the hard disk drives into the environment. Due to small, restricted, and often obstructed airflow passageways commonly associated with hard disk drives tightly compacted together within the confined space of a sled, dissipating heat from operating hard disk drives in a sled is challenging. For example, some sleds include solid covers (e.g., covers without openings) covering the top and bottom of the sled. Accordingly, when such sleds are stacked on top of each other, a gap is defined between the covers that air may pass through, but does not contribute to cooling the electronic data storage devices stored in the sleds.